


A Chance

by tonks42



Category: Glee
Genre: AU, Famous Kurt, M/M, klaine advent 2015
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-06 09:27:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 6,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5411615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonks42/pseuds/tonks42
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a quick meeting with his favorite Broadway star turns into something more, Blaine will have to find a way to relate to Kurt as more than just a fan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Broadway

**Author's Note:**

> This story is being written in pieces to fit some of the prompts from 2015's Klaine Advent challenge.

  
“This way!” Tina grabbed Blaine’s arm, yanking him through the crowd of people all hurrying out of the theater. “You don’t want to be in the back, do you?”

Blaine slid in to one of the last open spots against the metal barricade that ringed the stage door. “We’re stage dooring?”

“Of course we are. Do you think I’d deprive you of your last Cabaret one on one time with a certain Emcee? You’ve seen the show, what a dozen times? And I know that it’s not just because you like the music.” Tina teased as she pressed in next to Blaine, forcing her own space.

“We have to teach tomorrow,” Blaine pointed out, although the half complaint didn’t make him move one foot from the spot he’d claimed as other people filled in behind them.

“It’s the last week of school. What are you really teaching?” Tina fired back with a grin. “I mean, we’re playing literary pictionary all day.” Tina grabbed the metal barrier in front of them, leaning forward to look across the crowd. “I’ll even bring you coffee.”

“I suppose.” He reached out to grab Tina’s hand with a quick smile. “Thank you so much for the tickets tonight. You were so lucky to get picked.”

“Amen to that,” Tina replied. “Even if I’d rather have been sitting front row instead of in cheap lottery tickets in the back.”

“Hey, it let us get out here sooner.” Blaine grinned widely, letting the excitement he’d been trying to hold back with half hearted complaints show. “I’ll get to see Kurt close up from here. If you can get a picture of the two of us together, I will love you forever.”

* * *

  
Tina grabbed Blaine’s arm as the stage door started to open once again. As the hour wore later, they’d collected more and more signatures on their playbills, but not the one that Blaine really had been hoping for.

“Maybe he’s not doing stage door tonight,” Blaine leaned in to whisper. “Then we’ll be exhausted at school tomorrow for nothing.”

“Or maybe he is!” Tina said with a soft squeal as they saw that it was indeed Kurt Hummel who had walked out the door.

* * *

  
Early in his career, Kurt had thought that stage door was something that he would never grow tired of. It had been thrilling whenever someone called out his name, seeking a signature. But after almost two years of nightly stage doors for Cabaret, that enthusiasm had waned. It wasn’t something he was tired of, per se. It was more that he was just plain tired. It was his own college memories of rushing musicals and then staying out late waiting by the stage door for actors he admired that kept him doing this every night, no matter how much his body hurt or how amazing hurrying home to his bed sounded. 

Kurt looked over the crowd that day with a quick wave. “I promise to do my best to get to everyone, if you’re just patient.” He offered simply, uncapping the silver sharpie in his hand.

By the time he got down to the center of the line, he had to pause to shake out the cramp forming in his hand, with a wry smile for the couple about his age standing in front of them. “If you could just give me a second…”

“Oh, that’s no problem,” the woman said. “Take as much time as you need. My friend Blaine here is a big, big fan. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind a few extra moments in your presence.”

“Tina!” Blaine snapped. He turned quickly back to Kurt. “You were wonderful tonight. An amazing performance. The end gets me every time.”

Kurt smiled over in appreciation for the obvious attempt to steer the conversation to less embarrassing territory as much as for the compliment. “Thank you. Every time, huh?” He held his hand out for Blaine’s playbill.

“He’s seen it at least a dozen times.” Tina cut in again. “He even has your picture as the background on his phone. I mean, he must have watched your speech from the Tony’s at least a million times.”

Blaine didn’t even try to cut her off again. Instead his chin sank to his chest, his face turning bright red.

Kurt held back a laugh, giving Blaine a quick look over. Even after the hour plus wait outside the theater, he still looked put together with dark, wavy brown hair, a corral shirt, tight navy pants, and a matching navy bowtie with tiny crabs all over it. This seemed to happen at least once every week or two, but never with someone who was so much Kurt’s type. Usually it was giggly teenage and twenty-something girls, who couldn’t be further from being his type. If only he’d met Blaine somewhere else, Kurt wished, needing to remind himself that flirting with a big, big fan was a bad, bad idea. Kurt did personalize the playbill though, taking a moment to add Blaine’s name a quick message of thanks for seeing him so many times.

“Well, I’m glad to have a fan.” Kurt said dryly, sliding the playbill back. He met Blaine’s eyes for a moment and smiled, trying to let the other man know that there was no harm done.

Blaine cleared his throat with an embarrassed smile back. “Thank you. It was really nice to meet you.”

As Kurt moved on down the line, he kept half an ear open to listen to Blaine berate his friend.

“You can’t say things like that!”

“Why not? It’s true.”

“It’s not polite. See if I ever tell you anything again.”

Kurt held back laughter as he shook hands with the young woman in front of him. There was something very familiar about Blaine’s exasperated tone of voice. Kurt was sure he’d used the same one with Rachel at least a time or two.


	2. Fan

“We need to celebrate the start of summer,” Tina said as soon as Blaine had answered his phone.

“I thought we did that last week when we went to see Cabaret.” Blaine tucked his phone up against his shoulder to grab a bag of rice from the grocery store shelf. Enough time to cook things from scratch was one definite benefit of summer break.

“No, really celebrate. With alcohol.”

“It’s a Monday,” Blaine pointed out as he continued down the aisle.

“Exactly. We couldn’t go out drinking on a Monday during the school year. Or at least it would have been frowned on. But during the summer? We can totally go out drinking on a Monday night.” Blaine could just hear Tina’s excitement radiating over the phone, wearing away at his ability to say no to her. “We can even go to that piano bar you like in the Village.”

“The one where you get to stand around, drink, and sing show tunes?” And there went the last of Blaine’s ability to say no.

“Exactly. Meet you there at ten?”

“Fine, ten o’clock. You win. Don’t be late.”

* * *

 

She was late. Although Blaine was sure that Tina would inform him that twenty minutes, or however late she ended up being, did not count as late in the world of social occasions. She was fashionably late, and who did he think he was? Her boss? He could hear it now

Blaine didn’t bother to wait outside for her. The bar was down a set of stairs in a rather small basement strewn with rainbow colored Christmas lights, and often there was a line to get in. Blaine supposed the lack of a line was one good thing about being there on a random Monday in June. Getting a beer from the bar and working his way decently close to the piano player was another good thing. Sure the wood paneled basement was crowded, but it was nothing like the probably-exceeding-fire-code crowded that it could get on a Friday or Saturday.

Blaine smiled over at the piano player when she looked his way. He was pretty sure she liked him, or at least didn’t hate him. Maybe he was deluding himself to think he was enough of a regular for her to recognize him, but at least he could sing on tune and knew the words to most of what she might play.

He happily joined in at the chorus to “Corner of the Sky” and was just really getting into the song when he did a double take. Holy Hell. That’s couldn’t be Kurt Hummel standing up against one edge of the piano could it? What in the world would the man be doing here? Didn’t he know that this was exactly the kind of place where everyone would recognize him?

* * *

 

“We should ask for something from Cabaret.” Rachel leaned in closer to Kurt so that he could hear her over the music.

“We should definitely not.” Kurt gave her an annoyed look. He’d known coming here was a bad idea. He didn’t thrive on being recognized the way Rachel did, and this was the kind of crowd who would have seen him on the Tony’s if not in the theater. Singing Cabaret would have been a dead giveaway. “How about Wicked?” That was still always a safe bet to interest Rachel.

“Ooh, perfect!” Rachel leaned across the edge of the barrier separating the crowd from the piano to talk to the pianist as she wound down a song.

Kurt let out a long breath. Saved. He looked over toward the bar, contemplating whether or not he wanted another drink when his eyes caught on a semi-familiar face. Could that be his big, big fan from the week before? He was certainly just as cute and also bowtied. And there, walking up to him, was the same woman he’d seen at stage door embarrassing her friend. Was this a sign? Maybe they really were supposed to meet. What would be so bad about offering to buy such a cute man a drink?

He’d just about made up his mind to say ‘damn it all’ to the fact that Bowtie was a fan and walk over there when the pianist stood, raising her hand to get everyone to shut up.

“We’ve got a treat tonight! Kurt Hummel and Rachel Berry are here and have agreed to sing for us. So listen up!”

The opening notes to For Good started, and Kurt glared over at Rachel. This was not what he’d meant by suggesting Wicked, and it was not going to help his chances of getting to know Bowtie without the man moving into complete fan mode. But there was nothing to be done now. He’d have to sing.


	3. Hope

Wow. How did he get lucky enough to not only walk into the same bar as Kurt Hummel but to get to hear the man and his friend sing? It was beyond what he’d hoped for or even imagined could ever occur.

“Close your mouth before a bug flies in,” Tina commanded as she planted an elbow in his side.

Blaine snapped his jaw closed and tried to force himself not to stare. He would not be a creepy fan.

Cheering really loudly when they finished didn’t fall into that category though, he hoped. Giving Tina a big hug when he realized she’d been filming might have crossed that line, but hopefully the reason was discreet enough to excuse it. Hugging your friends was definitely allowed in gay bar.

“Now aren’t you glad I dragged you out?” Tina said right into Blaine’s ear.

Blaine nodded turning his eyes back to the piano in time to see Kurt slip away as the applause died down and head toward the bar. Did he dare hope he’d actually have a chance to talk to him? Could he make it smooth enough to not scare Kurt away? Blaine glanced down at his bottle of beer. Still two-thirds full. That was no good. He offered it to Tina with a begging look. “I need to get another drink. Finish this one for me?”

His puppy dog eye game must have been strong, because she gave the bar a quick glance and then took it. “Fine. You owe me, though, alright?” She tilted the bottle up to check the label. “Not even a good brand. You really owe me.”

Blaine gave her another quick squeeze and let out a slow breath to steady himself as he walked toward the bar.

* * *

 

After Rachel pulling him into the spotlight, Kurt really needed that drink he’d contemplating. The single bartender gave him a quick wave from down the bar, obviously busy pouring a row of drinks. Kurt turned around, resting his back against the padded edge of the bar to scan the room while he waited.

He spotted Bowtie walking his way and immediately turned back around, watching him approach in the mirror on the opposite wall. It was decision time. That smile on Bowtie’s face was adorable. Kurt’s eyes scanned down enjoying the rest of the view as well. Alright, he’d at least give him a chance and hope for the best.


	4. Indecent

Kurt let Bowtie get all the way over to the bar, settled nicely into the just barely human sized bit of space beside him before he turned to give the man another quick look over. A tight black polo and even tighter red pants were a good look on him. “I like your bowtie.” Simple enough. Flattering, but not outright hitting on him just in case he turned out to be a creepy stalker fan after all.

Bowtie flushed prettily, looking at himself in the mirror behind the bar, as if to remember what he was wearing. “Oh, thanks. One of my students gave it to me.”

“Students?” Kurt asked with raised eyebrows. He leaned in just a bit closer in the tight space to get a better look at the bowtie, white with musical notes arranged across it like it was a piece of sheet music. “Have you ever tried playing that? Just to see if it was a real song?”

“It’s not,” the other man said quickly. “So yes, I’ve tried.” He straightened his bowtie self-consciously. “Students. I teach high school music.”

Well, there was one point into the someone-worth-talking-to column and out of the potentially-creepy-stalker one. He had a normal job, one involving music. If only Kurt could remember his name. He cracked a sly smile. It wasn’t fair to hold back that Kurt remembered him, especially when he could tease Bowtie about it. “A teacher, huh? So you have a day job to support seeing all the shows and all the time spent at stage door?”

He blushed a deeper red, which only added to the cute factor. “I was hoping you’d forgotten that.”

Kurt laughed with a quick shake of his head. “No such luck. But hey, it’s not like either of you said anything indecent, right? Believe me, there’s been worse.”

“I’m sure you’ve got some interesting stories.” Bowtie leaned his hip against the bar, facing Kurt more fully.

“Oh, there are some doozies to be sure,” Kurt hesitated for a moment before he held out his hand. “I’d introduce myself, but obviously I don’t need to. But I can’t seem to remember…”

“Blaine.” His hand was taken quickly, a bashful smile on Blaine’s face. “I wouldn’t expect you to remember.”

Kurt shrugged that off, turning back to the bar as the bartender finally made his way over. “Gin and tonic, please.” He turned to give Blaine his best flirty smile. “Can I buy you a drink, Blaine?”


	5. Jumble

“A beer?” Blaine made it a question, totally thrown for a moment. How in the hell did he end up with Kurt Hummel buying him a drink? This was a story no one would believe.

Kurt flashed him a sly smile. “Beer. Simple.” He fell silent as he waited for their drinks, and Blaine took the time to try to sort out the crazy jumble his thoughts had become before he managed to shove his foot firmly into his mouth.

“Budweiser. God, I don’t think I’ve had that since high school,” Kurt said with a quick shake of his head as he slid Blaine’s drink toward him, leaving money for their drinks and a tip.

“It’s not my usual,” Blaine admitted. “But the atmosphere here makes up for the lack of variety in drink selection. It’s one of the few places people don’t look at me like I’m crazy when I spend my evening singing along to showtunes.”

Kurt laughed, raising his drink in toast to that. “Totally devoid of the looks you get when you accidentally start singing along to your playlist on the subway.”

“Exactly.” Blaine took a quick, steadying drink of his beer. “I thought I was the only one who’d done that.”

Kurt looked back out toward the room as the pianist continued the Wicked theme, moving into Dancing Through Life. “Then we should take advantage of it. Come sing with me?”

Blaine nodded quickly, hoping that he wasn’t being too overly enthusiastic. “I’d love to.”

 


	6. Kink

Singing and drinking together, along with their friends, made for a good night. Kurt was glad that he hadn’t had the time to tell Rachel that particular stage door story, because she didn’t need to know Blaine was a fan. He wasn’t at all ready for that conversation.

Blaine’s friend, Tina, was much more low key tonight, especially as Blaine got more drinks for her. It was a good night. So good that, with a nice tip in the jar, the pianist even agreed to avoid any songs from Cabaret, letting Kurt just blend back into the crowd.

But then the first kink in Kurt’s plan to get to know Blaine better, maybe even in a physical sense, surfaced. Tina, it turned out, couldn’t hold her alcohol.

“I’m so sorry,” Blaine said as he and Kurt helped her up the basement stairs and out into the relative cool of a June night. “I need to get her home to sleep it off.”

Kurt nodded, letting the woman sag against him as Blaine pulled his phone out of his pocket, opening his Uber app to arrange for a ride. “Been there, done that. Will you be fine to get her there?”

Tina turned in his arms, giving Kurt a big grin as she patted his cheek. “You’re really here. And you’re even prettier off stage.”

Blaine flushed bright red once again, pulling her out of Kurt’s personal space. “I’ll be fine. Probably better this way.”

Kurt nodded, tucking his hands down into the back pockets of his skinny jeans as a car with the familiar sticker in the window pulled up. “I’d like to see you again. Somewhere we can actually talk and get to know each other.”

That earned him a huge smile from Blaine. “I’d love that.”

And there was the second kink in his plans. He wanted to trust Blaine, but what if his instincts were wrong? What if he gave Blaine his phone number only to see it plastered on Twitter or Tumblr? “DM me on Twitter? We’ll set something up?” That seemed safer.

The Uber driver gave Blaine an impatient look, and he hurriedly opened the back door of the car, getting Tina settled inside. “Definitely. I had a really good time tonight.”

“Me, too. Good luck with…” Kurt finished that with a gesture toward Tina. “We’ll talk soon.”

Blaine gave him one last wave as the car door shut. Kurt stayed on the sidewalk to watch as it pulled away until he could no longer see the tail lights before he turned to head back inside. How in the world was he going to explain this to Rachel?

* * *

 

Blaine rattled off Tina’s address to the driver since her place was closer than his shoebox in Harlem. He settled back into the car seat, Tina half dozing against his shoulder as he stared out at the lights of New York City when it hit him. He was definitely going to need to change his Twitter handle.


	7. Legend

As soon as he stumbled home from Tina’s the next morning, well, after a hot shower, Blaine sat down to open his Twitter account. After a moment of cringing at his feed, he quickly decided that changing his username to something less Broadway fan-centric was probably not as good of a bet as just starting a whole new account.

Wait. He had that one that Tina and Sam had forced him to set up for his friends. The one he never used. He quickly logged out of his normal account and switched over.

He stared at his handle on this account for a moment: **@blaineydays**. That might have to change anyway, but it was definitely the lesser of two evils.

Now he just had to find the right thing to tweet at Kurt to get him to notice. Kurt had said they’d arrange to meet again by direct message, but Kurt’d have to be following him to send one.

**@kurthummel Last night was great.**

Wait, that sounded like they’d done a lot more than sing together and have a couple of drinks. And like he was bragging about sleeping with Kurt online. He’d really liked the actual, real Kurt Hummel he’d seen yesterday. He wanted Kurt to message him back, not running screaming the other direction.

**@kurthummel You sounded amazing last night.**

Better in that it didn’t sound too suggestive. Blaine rubbed at his tired eyes, as he deleted that line as well. It still sounded too fannish. If he could, he’d wipe that whole big, big fan phrase out of Kurt’s brain.

**@kurthummel It was so much fun singing together last night.**

That was the right tone, at least, but it was still lacking a certain something. This needed to be the stuff of legend, not an awkward, hungover tweet. Blaine sighed at his laptop. Why did he care so much about one freakin’ text? And, really, was sending it at ten o’clock in the morning his best bet? Kurt probably wasn’t up yet, and he didn’t want to seem too eager.

Blaine snapped his laptop closed and stood. Maybe a cup of coffee and a bagel from that little place on the corner would clear his thoughts.

 


	8. Moon

“You could ask him to meet you tonight at sunset. Get ice cream, or alcohol, or alcoholic ice cream and take a stroll through Central Park under the moon and stars. So romantic.” Rachel perched on the arm of the couch in their living room to stare over Kurt’s shoulder at the laptop screen as he tried to phrase a message to Blaine.

“Do they even make alcoholic ice cream?” Kurt asked, shoving her away. “This is hard enough without you watching.”

Rachel let a little ‘hmpf’ noise and settled instead into the nearest armchair. “If they don’t, they should. I know you can make milkshakes alcoholic. You could stroll under the stars with a couple of those. The moon is almost full, so it wouldn’t be so dark and-”

Kurt cut her off with a shake of his head. “There’s no way I’m walking around Central Park with him in the dark. There is absolutely nothing romantic about getting mugged on your first date.”

“Pessimist.”

“Realist.” Kurt opened a new tab in his browser. “He’s a music teacher, so he must really, really love music right? Maybe we could go to a jazz club or a cabaret show.”

“Dinner and then a show? I suppose that’s a cliche date for a reason. Just don’t be too boring about it.” Rachel stood, giving their stylish wall clock a quick glance. “I need to get going. Some of us are still gainfully employed on a Broadway stage.”

Kurt just waved her off with a roll of his eyes. He had a meeting with his agent later that week and enough money saved that he was hardly worried. Let her have the small victory. He still had a Tony to lord over her when needed.

Wait. He was between shows, and Blaine must be on summer vacation. He didn’t need to limit himself to night time activities. Maybe he could suggest ice cream in the park at a sunnier hour. Renting a row boat might be the exact kind of cliche-for-a-reason date he was looking for.


	9. Ocean

“Why are you reading instructions on how to row a boat?” Tina peered over Blaine’s shoulder to get a look at the screen of his tablet before she took a seat across from him, cup of coffee already in hand. “You know that’s just a song, right?

“Kurt got back to me. We’re going to Central Park tomorrow.” Blaine was sure that the smile on his face was probably sappier and more puppy-like than he’d be happy with, but he couldn’t really bring himself to care.

“And you’re worried about falling into the reservoir?” Tina teased gently.

“Gosh I hope not.” Blaine grabbed a napkin off the table, wringing it between his hands. “We’re going boating on the lake. Romantic, right?”

“So long as you don’t fall in.” Tina gave him an overly concerned look. “Are you bringing a life preserver?”

“It’s not the ocean. I think we’ll survive.”


	10. Passion

Blaine watched the video from the bar that Tina had emailed him through another time. Kurt and his friend Rachel sounded wonderful together. Tina’s video was a bit shaky, but the quality was definitely good enough that other fans would enjoy it. Normally, Blaine would immediately post something like this. He’d want all the other people he shared an online space with, people who shared his passion for musical theater, to experience this with him. But tonight, something was holding him back.

As soon as the video ended, Blaine immediately hit play again, sinking back in his desk chair to stare at the image of Kurt on his screen. Actually meeting the man had changed things. He couldn’t fanboy online about someone who’d suddenly gone from this man he admired from afar to a witty, hot, very human person he was going to go on a date with. He’d liked Kurt’s public persona, but he was finding that he liked the real man behind it even more. It felt like posting anything from their evening of song would be a betrayal of Kurt’s trust.

And maybe he just wanted Kurt all to himself. Was that really too much to ask?


	11. Question

“Can you swim?”

Kurt raised his eyebrows at that question, not exactly the greeting he’d anticipated from his date. “Well, hello to you, too.”

Blaine blushed, giving Kurt a flustered smile and a quick look over. “Hello. You look wonderful. I love the broach. Very appropriately themed. You can swim, right?”

Kurt ran a hand over his broach, a pair of crossed oars. “I thought so. It’s very nice to see you as well. I’m so glad we were able to get together again. And yes. I can swim.”

“Oh, good. I’ve never been in a rowboat before, and I don’t want to be the one responsible for drowning you, and-”

Kurt cut him off by resting a hand on Blaine’s arm. “Relax. I have no intention of even getting wet, let alone drowning, not on our first date.” He watched Blaine for a quiet moment, offering a quick smile as he saw some of the tension seeping out of Blaine’s shoulders. Good. If the guy stayed that much of a nervous wreck, this could have quickly turned into a disaster of a date. “Besides, I know how to row a boat. My father used to drag me along fishing with him, right up until he caught me staging elaborate escape attempts for the nightcrawlers.”

Blaine laughed at that last statement. “I’ll leave it in your capable hands, then, no worms required.”


	12. Regret

Listening to Blaine animatedly tell a story about the prank a group of his students had managed to pull on him (something about saran wrap and sheet music) Kurt let his thoughts drift off listening to all the details, instead enjoying watching the way Blaine used his hands to tell the story and admiring the sparkle in his eye.

As he watched his date and let the boat drift on the lake water, Kurt couldn’t help but regret the way they’d met. Why couldn’t the piano bar have been their first meeting? Then they could just interact at this level. Just be two men getting to know each other, without Kurt having to worry that Blaine was only here because he was a fan. Would he like the real Kurt? What if Kurt told him something personal, and Blaine spread it around the whole internet? What if Kurt let these fears get to him and missed out on something potentially wonderful? That would be something he’d really regret.

“Anyway, I’m sorry for monopolizing the conversation.” Blaine gave him a sheepish smile and a quick shrug. “Get me started talking about my students, and I could talk for hours.”

“It’s okay. I was enjoying watching you. I mean listening to you.” Kurt felt his own blush start. Shit. That wasn’t what he’d meant to say.

“Watching, huh?” Heat flashed in Blaine’s eyes. “I suppose I can take that as a compliment.”


	13. Shift

“I came to New York for college. I went to NYU, and never left.” Blaine was careful to keep his butt planted firmly on the boat seat, afraid to shift too much as he spoke and upset the little rowboat they’d rented. “I fell in love with the city. The huge variety of people. The food. The millions of things to do.”

“I know the feeling. New York’s the first place I ever really felt like I fit in.” Kurt smiled sardonically. “I grew up in Ohio. All this,” he gestured over his body up to his skyscraper like hair, “wasn’t really appreciated there. Then I was here, living with Rachel in a sketchy neighborhood in Brooklyn, and going to school with people like me for the first time in my life.”

“Yes, exactly.” Blaine smiled wider at the moment of connection. “I’m from Ohio as well, from the Columbus area. This is a more comfortable place for me to teach, too. Attitudes are slowly shifting back home, but here, I can be out at school and not have to worry about parent reactions. It’s not a big deal right now, while I’m single, but when I find the right guy and settle down, I want to be able to have a picture of my boyfriend, my husband, my family on my desk, just like everyone else, and not worry about who sees it.”


	14. Time

It had to be a good sign for a first date when time just flew by, didn’t it? Kurt had certainly been on a few where the exact opposite was true, and this was a nice change. A quick glance at his watch showed the truth. They’d been floating and rowing aimlessly around the lake for almost two hours now, talking about anything and everything.

“We have to get the boat back,” Kurt said regretfully.

“Already?” Blaine pulled his phone out of his pocket, eyes going wide as he saw the time. “Already. Huh.”

“I don’t have anywhere that I need to be. Do you?” Kurt gave Blaine a hopeful smile. He wasn’t ready for this day to end yet.

Blaine echoed Kurt’s smile. “It’s summer break. I have all the time in the world. It’s a gorgeous summer day. We could go for a walk.”

Kurt picked up the oars, arms straining as he started to row them back toward shore. “I’d like that. I bet the boathouse has ice cream.”

 


	15. Underneath

Kurt turned the boat back in, while Blaine handled waiting in line for ice cream.

By the time Kurt caught back up to him, Blaine was being handed two cones. His eyes lit up when he turned and saw Kurt, who couldn’t help but grin back in return.

“I didn’t know if you’d rather have chocolate or vanilla, so I got one of each. Your choice.” Blaine offered both soft-serve cones out.

Kurt took the chocolate. “Either one is a good choice. I mean, it’s ice cream.” He led the way down a nearby path, underneath a canopy of tree branches. “I don’t think summer gets more perfect than a beautiful day, wonderful company, and ice cream.”

“An ice cream lover. I’ll have to remember that,” Blaine said as he took a lick of his own cone.

“Ice cream. Cake. Cookies. Oh, God, cheesecake,” Kurt practically moaned the last one. “It’s probably a good thing that I have to stay in top shape for the theater, or I’d indulge far too much. And weigh far too much.”

“I would think working under stage lights eight shows a week would help with that,” Blaine pointed out.

Kurt just laughed. “Oh, it does. Dance classes and exercise do their fair share, too, but not enough for all the ice cream I’d eat in my dreams.” He paused for another lick of it, before jumping into a new topic. “So, should we start with the tough questions part of the date? Favorite Broadway show?”

Blaine groaned at that with a quick shake of his head. “That is a tough question. There are far too many good ones out there. I’d have to say it depends on my mood. I love to bounce around the house to Hamilton, even if the ending makes me cry every time. And Philip. Poor Philip. Rent, always Rent, but especially when I was stuck in Ohio. When I need to put on my big boy pants and deal with life, I tend to go to Wig in a Box from Hedwig. And then there’s all the old standards, and I could go on and on. Unfair question. Which means you better have an answer.”

As he met Blaine’s eyes so full of life and passion, Kurt wanted nothing more in that second then to push him up against one of the trees along the trail and kiss him underneath the branches. He was sure it would be as sweet as the ice cream. But they were out in broad daylight on a first date. It seemed too forward. He slid his ice cream cone into his other hand instead, reaching out to entwine his fingers with Blaine’s and give him a teasing smile. “Cabaret, of course. It did win me a Tony, after all. See? Easy question.”


	16. Vow

“Favorite color?”

“Red. Yours?”

“Blue. Especially the shade of the sky today.” Kurt tipped his head back to look up at the vibrant blue of the summer sky, just a few fluffy clouds visible through the tree branches. “It’s such a hopeful color.”

“And it’s the gorgeous color of your eyes. New question, favorite place you’ve traveled?” Blaine crunched into his ice cream cone as they strolled.

“London. I was lucky enough to get to go there to perform in a charity show. I totally took advantage and went sightseeing. So much wonderful history,” Kurt enthused.

“Did you get to go to King’s Cross Station?” Blaine asked.

“I don’t think so.” Kurt gave Blaine a confused look. “I did see Big Ben and Buckingham Palace. Was I supposed to go there?”

“Harry Potter?”

Kurt shook his head blankly. “Never seen it.”

“Read it,” Blaine insisted. “The books are always better. I solemnly swear I’m up to no good?”

“What kind of vow is that?”

“An unbreakable one. Clearly I need to loan you my copies,” Blaine said with mock dismay. “Or I’ll read them aloud to you myself.”

“Storytime? That wasn’t quite what I’d imagined us doing in bed together.”


	17. Wish

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who's following through all of this. The last chapter will be posted later today. I can't imagine that I won't want to return to this world to tell more of their story in the future, though.

“I wish this afternoon could go on forever.”

“All good things must come to an end. Isn’t that what they say?” Kurt stopped in a shady spot at the end of trail to face Blaine.

“But could good things repeat themselves?” Blaine asked hopefully.

Kurt nodded. “I think that’s a definite possibility. But maybe next time we’ll choose something that will make you less afraid of drowning.”

“I was more afraid of you drowning. My conscience couldn’t take the thought.” Blaine tried not to let the noise of the city just past the fence bring him out of a perfect afternoon and back to reality. Not yet.

“I do appreciate your concern,” Kurt drawled. He hesitated for just a moment before he took Blaine’s hand again, pulling him close to press a quick, safe in public, kiss to Blaine’s lips. “There will be another day,” he promised.

Blaine’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. “I’ll hold you to that.”


	18. Yesterday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have it. This was never supposed to happen this month. I was just going to write a series of twenty-four unrelated one shots. I'm so glad it did, though.

Blaine settled cross legged on his couch, setting his open laptop on the cushion next to him. His date with Kurt yesterday had been magical. Not because he’d been a fan of Kurt and his work for a long time, or because Kurt was hot and exactly his type, well, not totally because of that. It’d been because Kurt had kept him laughing, kept him from drowning both literally and metaphorically, and had made hours of talking feel like nothing at all. Add all of that to the hottness, and you get magic.

And now Blaine would never be able to think about him the same way again. Even if they never went on another date. Even if he never got to see Kurt again, he’d still never be able to admire a picture online the same way. Deleting his old Twitter and Tumblr accounts seemed harsh, but what other option was there?

He grabbed his laptop, pulling up Twitter to find a new DM waiting for him on his @blaineydays account. Probably Tina to bug him about the date. He clicked on it anyway.

**Yesterday was the best first date I’ve been on a long time. Please tell me you’re still onboard for another. Call me. 917-555-0735.**


End file.
